why do I even have a blog?

I started this blog initially for my Art in Film class I took at Eastern University my freshman or sophomore year in college.. Now it's just a blog that I never use. I finally got a twitter because my internship with the shoe cobbler has showed me how Social Media and word of mouth communications is a moving phenomena of the 21st century...yet there's too many its communication overload!!! It's fun and addicting though !!

song of the day

I'm going to see Thievory Corporation and the Roots at University of Vermont this weekend. Me and Heather are going to visit our friend Sammy Csaps and grooove with her for a few days I'm oober excited. This song is what made me happy all day today. I THINK it's French, only because I know they have many songs in French. But these lyrics look so similar to Spanish! I have no knowledge with different languages but I urge to learn more about them. There are so many Spanish people living in Willimantic. I would love to learn French though.

anyways, this song is amazing I have really been diggin' the drums beat lately and African sounding music it really soothes my soul. and Thievory always brings harmony to my ears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiO5mxZfajY

Band: Thievory Corporation
Compilation: Babylon Rewound 2004
Song name: Exilio
...le le la lo la le...
Ven, Ven
Ven, Ven
Ven, Vente a gozar

Ven, Ven
Ven, Ven
Ven, Vente a bailar

Nuestra persistencia y nuestra alegría
Identifican nuestra raza, latina.
Hemos salido de nuestra tierra
Huyendo de los problemas
Corriendo de las balas
Buscando mirar una oportunidad
Para mejorar

Paz, Paz, Paz pide la gente
Paz, Paz, Paz pide la mente
Las escopetas...
Paz, Paz, Paz pide la gente
Paz, Paz, Paz pide la mente
Las escopetas también dicen

Y la violencia trae la violencia
La corrupción la destrucción
¿Honestidad donde te has ido?
Que no te encuentro ya...

...le le la lo la le...
Ven, Ven
Ven, Ven
Ven, Vente a gozar

Ven, Ven
Ven, Ven
Ven, Vente a bailar



and this is the English translation that Bing Translator gave me which basically gives you an idea even though it's kinda messy..


Exile
Come come come to enjoy
Come come come to dance
Our persistence and our joy
They identify nuestra raza, Latin.
We have gone out of our land
Fleeing from problems
Running out of bullets
Looking for watch an opportunity
To improve

Peace, peace, peace calls for the people
Peace, peace, peace calls for the mind
Shotguns...
Peace, peace, peace calls for the people
Peace, peace, peace calls for the mind
Shotguns also say

And the violence brings violence
Corruption destruction
Honesty where you've gone?
That you find already...

.. .enables you the what the le...
See, see
See, see
Come, come to enjoy

See, see
See, see
Come, come to dance

an artist who makes color look like a symphony

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, “Synchromy is to color what symphony is to sound.”


Jackie Fedor April 7, 2011
Art 140 Wadsworth Antheneum Assignment

Artist: Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American, 1890-1973
Painting: American Synchromy No. 1, c. 1919, Oil on Canvas

Stanton Macdonald-Wright was an American artist who lived in California which influenced his freedom of expression through his artwork. In 1907 he moved to Paris where he met Morgan Russell, and together they established a new movement in the modern art world. This movement was developed in 1912 and was called Synchromy; which focuses on using color to express form (Levin, Gail). They created their technique by combing cubism and Paul Cezanne’s style and focusing on how color forms the structure of paintings. They were also influenced by their teacher, Ernest Percyval Tudor-Hart (1873-1954), who taught them color theory through his own “musical system of color harmony”(Levin, Gail). Synchromy stresses the rhythms of color which compose of abstract shapes and human figures. Macdonald-Wright and Russell’s Synchromy movement is noted as one of the earliest forms of modernism in the early 20th century (Ehrlich, Susan). They compared this modern art form to a musical symphony. It has influenced many artists like Thomas Hart Benton who later taught Jack Pollock (Goodale, Gloria). Synchromism relates an artist’s use of color to a musician’s combination of musical chords, both creating a harmony of rhythm and expression.
After several years of pursuing the art of Synchromy together in Paris, it soon came to an end when Macdonald-Wright and Russell went their separate ways due to the First World War (Moss, Toby C). Macdonald-Wright returned to the United States with fresh ideas based off his movement that become highly known in New York in some of his finest paintings (Agee, William C). Unfortunately when he moved back home to California, Synchromy slowly faded from the modern world since color became the essence of the art experience. “Macdonald-Wright and Russell were two among a number of artists in the early 20th century who participated in the liberation of color and its emergence as a full and independent medium of expression”(Agee, William C). Every artist has a unique style and Stanton Macdonald-Wright used color to determine the core and character of his paintings. Throughout most of his life he drifted away from Synchromism; however, after the death of Morgan Russell in 1953, he went back to focus his paintings on the movement that they started together (Levin, Gail).
American Synchromy No. 1 was one of Stanton Macdonald-Wright’s earliest paintings of Synchromies. It was painted in 1919 with a musical rhythm in mind; the background colors seem to create the image. He uses warm colors: yellow, orange, and red, to highlight the outer borders of the male figure’s body. He uses cool colors: blue, green, and purple, to show the distinction of his muscular form. The human figure seems feminine the way it is posed, but after looking at it for a while you notice that it’s definitely a male because of his huge muscular arms and flat pectoral area. Below the left arm there is a diagonal line of white that leads to above the right leg which portrays the color in this painting to be split in half. The upper body has strong features expressed by dark shades of red and blue in his face and arms. His face looks tired and sleepy as though he just woke up, having an early morning stretch. The orange, green, and purple colors distinguish the sculpt of his arm muscles. The lower body has less color in the legs but seems to have a blend of purple, yellow, red, green, and blue on his right thigh that looks like a cloth or a sheet that is about to slip off the front of his knee. Macdonald-Wright uses the entire color wheel in this painting which gives it an exciting and alluring quality.
When I noticed the year of this painting I thought it was way before it’s time. It appeared to me that it would be from the late 1960s; and it just so happens that many years after synchromy had been forgotten, it reappeared in 1965 from obscurity and people were recognizing it for its visual enhancement. (Agee, William C). This particular painting combines contemporary techniques using bright colors and sharp cubist edges with a figure that looks like a sculpture of something Michelangelo would do. Sure enough, according to (Levin, Gail), “the compositions of his earlier Synchromies were based on the human figure and often used the contrapposto pose of Michelangelo’s sculpture as a major design element”. This painting is a great example of what Synchromy is all about and how he really uses color to express form. American Synphomy No. 1 was just the beginning of many abstract paintings that emerged from two men that enjoyed focusing on color as the core of the artwork.
At the Wadsworth on the plaque next to the painting there was a quote by Macdonald-Wright, “Synchromy is to color what symphony is to sound.” In American Synphomy No. 1 he composes a series of brilliant colors that collaborate with the background through the entire sculpture of the man. There is an illusion of depth in the outline of his body. The form is defined more with shading than line; he is almost transparent but the combination of color creates a dimensional sense that he is almost popping out at you. The colors in the background: red, green, purple and blue are not only hiding behind him and forming the curves of his body they are also making him stand out. However, I can’t make up my mind whether he is falling into the pool of color behind him or emerging from it. This painting makes you think and if you stare at it for a long time it becomes delusional, but then you realize it’s connected by all the different colors.
This is a very abstract piece with a high renaissance figure in it and a modern feel to it. According to (Agee, William C), it was Morgan Russell’s idea that paintings could be created based on sculptural form interpreted two-dimensionally through a knowledge of color properties. There is definitely an underlying rhythm between the colors and geometric structure to the composition; the colors make up the abstract shapes.
References

Agee, William C. "Color, Myth, and Music Chronicle of Higher Education". 47. 29 (2002), 23, http://0-web.ebscohost.com.www.consuls.org/ehost/detail?sid=e5af3b18-f191-4684-abc3-68db4177f2d6%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=4256118. (accessed April 6, 2011).

Ehrlich, Susan. "Independent Visions Arts & Antiques". 29. 8 (2006), 68-75, http://0-web.ebscohost.com.www.consuls.org/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=11&sid=0a6215ce-e56c-49c9-844a5d34122b04b5%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=22267639. (accessed April 6, 2011).

Goodale, Gloria. "Artist who explored the power of color. Christian Science Monitor". 93. 180 (2001), 19, http://0web.ebscohost.com.www.consuls.org/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=25&sid=1f35336b -e403-4df2bc2a860d21e60384%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=4982287. (accessed April 6, 2011).

Levin, Gail. "Synchromism- Oxford Art Online." http://0-www.oxfordartonline.com.www.consuls.org/subscriber/article/grove/art/T082779 (accessed April 6, 2011).

Moss, Toby C.. "Stanton Macdonald-Wright (1890-1973)." 2001.http://www.tobeycmossgallery.com/macdonald_wright_bio.html (accessed April 6, 2011).

trying out new things

I want to try and start blogging again. maybe I'll keep doing movie reviews. the last movie I watched was a documentary on Aron Ralston, NBC news survivor story, about his freak accident while hiking in Utah and got his whole right arm stuck between a boulder and a wall in a crescent of the earth! eeek. It was a beautiful heart-wrenching story. Then before that I watched the movie based of his close to death experience called 127 hours played by James Franco (he played the role well, very goofy and sensible, and always a great stare especially during a 1 character based film).
now I want to read Mr. Ralston's book, between a rock and a hard place. I can't get enough of his story, apparently. The book will probably be the most descriptive, I'm looking foward to reading the part describing cutting his own arm off, that will be intense! I can already sense the agony just from watching the film.

It was interesting to see the real footage though, of his actual recordings of himself saying good-bye to his family and describing his current state of almost dehydrated death--thats why I rented the documentary on netflix.

Netflix is probably one of the best organizations I contribute to. why get cable when you have netflix? no commercials and you choose what you want to watch! and when you want to watch it! it's great. I would like to watch the news once in a while though. I got a yahoo account so I can read that and see whats going on. I've never taken a side in politics before. I never do my own research to see what I agree with. It's hard to say what I am, because I think everyone is right sometimes, just as equally as they are wrong sometimes. I am not registered to vote. I know some people would call me ignorant, but I would just call myself uninformed. who's to believe anyway?

I got a yahoo account so that is step 1!! I know whats actually sort of going on in this world, according to yahoo. I'm not always in my own little world..well, maybe most of the time I am...

Citizen Kane 1941

Charles Foster Kane was a very rich man. He was raised by a rich banker, Walter Thatcher, who Kane’s mother let look after him until he was 25 and old enough to be on his own. He starts getting into the newspaper business and owns many newspapers and takes over the Inquirer. On his death bed he utters one word, “Rosebud” while dropping a mini snow globe as it crashed to the floor. A reporter by the name of Thompson goes out to interview people who were close to Kane and try to find the meaning of “Rosebud.” He dies alone after he divorced his first wife and his second wife left him. He becomes a big political leader and tries to win the election but loses and builds an Opera House for his wife, Susan Alexander who doesn’t even have a desire to sing, and apparently isn’t very good anyways. Kane is a man of fame and fortune and he never knows the meaning of love, only money. He collected statues and many things and bought so much pointless stuff that in the end just became trash.
I don’t think this movie was the greatest film of all time. It was interesting and Orson Welles played Charlie Kane very well in his own film, however, it’s not on my top favorite movie list. It was a good movie overall because in the end it makes you think about what Rosebud really was. It was the name of his sled, which he remembers as a kid, which must have been why he was holding the snow globe because it is relevant to sledding. It all comes together in the end once you see the sled burning and the word “Rosebud” melting away on the wooden sled. Kane even said so himself that he probably would be a very good man if he wasn’t rich. I think he was raised by money and not love. If his real parents raised him or maybe if he stayed with his mother he would have known how to love and what it really meant. Being successful and rich isn’t everything and I think Kane realizes that once Susan left him.
The film was well made and I enjoyed noticed the shots and different angles that were used. One of the beginning shots of the snow globe falling into pieces on the floor was an interesting shot. I also thought it was interesting how we never really saw Thompson’s face in full light, he was always just finding out information and what he looked like didn’t seem important to the audience. I also enjoyed experiencing a newsreel in the beginning of the movie showing all the information about Kane’s death. I guess for the 1940s this was a very well made classic film. It’s unique shots and cinematography really created a spectacular movie. I liked how it was similar to that true story, even though it got the real man who was suppose to resemble Kane was mad that this movie was made, the overall aspect of the film was good.

Analytical Review-The Maltese Falcon, Touch of Evil, Chinatown, and BRICK

The Maltese Falcon, Touch of Evil, and Chinatown were all black and white films. They all have many similarities within the Film Noir “genre.” All relatively old, there are always murders and a major twist in the story. The movie Brick is a new kind of Film Noir movie because it’s more recently made and it’s in color. All four of these films have a femme fatal and/or a damsel in distress. Watching these four movies had all the stylistics in Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir on page 235. "Like all film movements, film noir drew upon a reservoir of film techniques, and given the time one could correlate its techniques, themes, and casual elements into a stylistic schema." All these films were mostly set in the night time because it makes it more mysterious. Touch of Evil (1958) and the Maltese Falcon (1941) was made around the time of WWII which were dark crime thrillers for people to watch to get their minds off the war and what was happening in reality. People wanted to think about other problems rather than their own to get their mind off the times they were going through.
The lighting was dark for the most part in all four of these film noirs. Brick (2005) was different because it was mostly set during the day because many scenes were filmed at a high school. The main character Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a high school student trying to solve a murder mystery of his ex-girlfriend. Like all film noir main characters, the point of view is with a hero and intelligent investigator trying to figure things out alone with no police or government involved. These aspects of Brendan are similar to the character JJ Gittes (Jack Nicholson) in Chinatown (1974). They both also fell for the ‘femme fatal’ character. Brendan fell for the suspicious Laura (Nora Zehetner) and Gittes has a strange relationship with Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway). However, the style of the femme fatal character changes throughout the movie in Chinatown because I think Mulwray became the damsel in distress in the end. There’s always an important female character in every film noir that is always beautiful and up to something.
The theme of film noir has a lot to do with moral ambiguity. One character always must decide what to do whether if it’s ethical or not, right from wrong; keeping important information to yourself and figuring things out on your own. They always take it upon themselves to get the job done. Corruption is common in film noirs. There’s always someone you can’t trust. There’s always someone being dangerous and destructive. It normally is the case with each character having an aspect of danger. In Touch of Evil, the lead detective, the obese Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) becomes the bad guy in the film. There is always betrayal involved in a film noir.
In Paul Schrader’s notes on film noir he discusses the compositional tension that is preferred to physical action in Film Noir. The cinematography is more aware and the actor’s area of surroundings stands out more than the physical action that the actor is making. The scene is controlling the action. As dramatic as the action would be the composition is more artistic rather than gory and brutal to watch. Normally there isn’t an extreme close up of the action, just a general long shot or medium shot of the action taking place because the background is usually important in the style of film noir.
I think that film noir is a bunch of genres all mixed in one and it originated in the 1940s and 1950s. Just because it’s history starts in that generation doesn’t mean all film noirs have to be in black & white and have mostly dark lighting. I think Brick is a new form of film noir that involves the more recent generation of film. It’s based off of what was defined as a film noir back in the 40s and 50s but it is more modern-day crime and mystery. There doesn’t always have to be trench coats and fedoras in a film noir, but there sure always is cigarettes! Props in these kinds of movies stood out a lot more to me while watching this area of film.

Chinatown (1974)

Chinatown (1974) by Roman Polanski
Chinatown starred Jack Nicholson as a private detective named “Jake Gittes” who is hired to spy on Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer for the city’s water department, by an imposer who comes into his office and claims to be Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray. (She thinks he’s having an affair.) Once Gittes starts spying on Hollis, he snatches pictures of him with a young blonde and another time with an old man that looks like they are in a heated argument. Later we find out who the young blonde is, and the old man is Evelyn’s father, Noah Cross (played by John Hutson). The real Evelyn Mulwray comes into Gittes’s office and proclaims she is going to sue him if he doesn’t stop following her husband. However, once Hollis ends up killed, a huge investigation breaks out and Gittes tries to figure out why this man died and who killed him.
This movie was a film noir because it had a big investigation about a murder that needed to be solved. The black and white made it more of a cinematic feel to it. I didn’t understand why that lady impersonated Evelyn Mulwray and who hired her to do that. I didn’t understand why they wanted him to be spied on and why the impersonator lady turned up dead in her apartment later on in the film. I understand the overall point of the film, just not that particular detail. The movie was pretty good, it definitely had the film noir aspects to it. It was a mystery with one character trying to solve the problem without getting the cops involve because of course, they ruin everything. The moral of the story was that something bad always happens whenever Gitte is in Chinatown. The entire movie was not set in Chinatown expect for the end of the film where something horrible happens! And that’s the point is that good things don’t come out of being in Chinatown. Horrible things will always happen there!